I think it’s finally dawning on Neil Patrick Harris that he’s better off keeping his mouth shut when it comes to Britney Spears.
The “How I Met Your Mother” star is once again going public to set the record straight on remarks he made regarding Britney Spears’ recent cameo on the CBS sitcom.
Earlier this week Harris was asked in an interview: “Why does such a gem of a show need Britney to get any attention?” To which the former “Doogie Howser, M.D.” star responded, “I’m in the minority that our show does not need stunt casting in order to succeed.”
Now he could have just left it at that, but the verbose actor couldn’t seem to keep his trap shut and went on to say: “I worry that if they start ‘Will and Gracing’ us too much, that the show will suffer. I just am a real fan of our content. I think we have a great show going and I hope it’s not screwed up by the desire for 700,000 more viewers.”
Harris’ remarks made headlines across the nation. I know because I read nearly all of them and I will note that some publications did take the liberty of writing that Harris believed Spears should not appear on the program any more. Of course, they used the actor’s quotes to support their claims.
Well, apparently Harris must have got yanked into some network bigwig’s office after his opinions went public because just a few hours ago the actor released a statement contending that “a writer took some quotes of mine and speculated an opinion about their intent.”
According to Harris, he has nothing against Spears per say, it’s just that he is “very protective of our show, and its content. I have a high standard of quality, and hope to maintain it on every level. Television is big business, I understand that. I have great faith in our casting department, as well as (Twentieth Century Fox Television) and CBS, to find the appropriate person for every role on our show. I was remiss in speculating otherwise.”
I had to laugh after reading Harris’ new remarks. You know some spin master affiliated with the show probably wrote the release for Harris after studio and show execs gave him a severe tongue-lashing. After all, Spears’ appearance on the show gave it it’s highest ratings ever.
Harris’ release also included these lines:
“Britney did a great job on the show. In fact, we are all hoping that she returns rather soon to reprise her role.”
Hilarious. To me anyway. Especially given that Harris had to clarify the somewhat disparaging remarks he made to the press about the popwreck while she was shooting her scenes.
I don’t know Neil Patrick Harris, but I’m sure he was just being honest with the reporter who was interviewing him. He’s probably one of those actors who puts more stock in his performance than he does on numbers, ratings and profit margins (until his salary is affected by it, of course).
Still, the last line in Harris’ recent release probably sums up this saga best:
“My job description is to act,” his statement said, “and I should really do just that.”
Do you agree?